The invention relates to a surgical instrument for performing cutting or gripping movements within a patient's body.
U.S. Pat. No. 0,003,668 describes a micro-surgery device with an elongate tube body that may be inserted into a patient's body. At the front end of the tube body, there is a stationary leg of a forceps. Cooperating with this stationary leg of the forceps is a movable leg of the forceps provided at the front end of a rod displaceable within the tube body. According to another possibility, the rod movable within the tube body is provided with two laterally resilient forceps legs that spread apart when being moved out of the tube end and that are pressed against each other when the rod is withdrawn.
There are applications, in which the instrument has to be advanced in a straight line up to the point of operation, without lateral projections protruding from the tube body. Further, it is often necessary to apply the forceps legs at sites lateral of the puncture channel through which the tube body leads. This necessity occurs in particular when vessel clamps or the like have to be set lateral of the operation site.